My
friend and colleague Herb Hammond is visiting this week from Canada and
will be presenting about his work doing ecosystem-based planning with
First Nations, with the use of GIS mapping. Here are the essentials:

All info is available at http://silvafor.org/The sections on Ecosystem-Based Planning, Appreciate Inquiry, and his publications are a great introduction to the methods.

Background on Silva Forest Foundation (SFF):SFF
has worked with many communities throughout Canada to create
ecosystem-based conservation plans and ecosystem maps. These
communities include Harrop-Procter, the Slocan Valley, Creston, the
Fraser Headwaters, Yalakom Valley, Cortes Island, Denman Island, the
Xeni Gwet’in First Nation, Xaxli’p, Haida Gwaii (all in British
Columbia), North Central Saskatchewan, and the Innu Nation (Labrador).
Each community uses its plans and maps in ways unique to that
community. Harrop-Procter and Creston use the information as the basis
for their ongoing community forest operations. Xaxli’p has combined
their ecosystem-based plan with their traditional use study to manage a
community forest in culturally and ecologically appropriate ways.

The
Innu Nation used their ecosystem-based and protected areas design
mapping to negotiate protection of a large portion of their traditional
lands in cultural and ecological reserves, and to apply an
ecosystem-based approach to the use of lands outside protected areas.---